Originally Posted by Ariana:
I guess I completely disagree with Blackcat (you know I love you 
)
I don't think taking a vacaton WITH your kids constitues any of the things you've mentioned or that I think my life revolves around my kid or that my kid is the centre of the universe. It just means I choose to spend time with my kids so I can give them the best out of life. Maybe some people can't handle being around their kids as much as me, I don't know, but I don't like feeling that because I spend a lot of time with my kids I'm "ruining" them or not preparing them for the world. Preparing them for the world involves a heck of a lot more than whether or not you vacaton with them. I feel that you've made some overgeneralizations.
I know 2 particular parents who spend as little tme as possible with their kids and their marriage is ending very soon. Not all people who spend time without their children have happy and successful marriages and vice versa. Marriage should be strong whether you vacation with your kids or not. If I thought my marriage wasn't going to work unless we took a vacay alone together I'd be questioning my marriage and our commitment to eachother. What makes a good marriage good is the EVERY day struggle and going through it together...not running off to Vegas for 5 days alone. I don't judge people who want to take vacays without their kids but to say that it's to "help their marriage" I just call that bollocks!! JMO
What kind of a place have we gotten to where taking a vacation with your kids is considered "overindulging them" 
Seems to me like the pendulum has swung completely in the opposite direction.
First off, love you too!
I wasn't implying that taking a vacation WITH your kids is over indulging them. I was simply saying taking a vacation WITHOUT them is benficial at times to the marriage, the child(ren) and the individual.
FWIW~ For every vacation I took alone with my DH, we had twice as many WITH the kiddos.
I also want to say that we couldn't afford ANY vacation until we had already been married a few years and that included a honeymoon which we took several years into our marriage.